I rarely use the quick lager method these days, opting instead to ferment with reliable lager strains at ale temps. I should have expected that response from you! Well fermentation has kicked off and its sitting at 52… Can I safely raise it up to 58 without any worries? Would you change anything else in the method from then on? I very rarely ferment cool anymore these days because, with the yeasts I use, warm fermented lagers keep turning out really good.
Pitched Wyeast , Oktoberfest, at 48F, planning to hold for days to ensure clean fermentation before ramping up after getting back from being out of town for work. After the 3rd or 4th day to breaker tripped to my shed which houses my fermentation chambers. When I discovered this the beer had risen to 75F.
Basically finished off fermentation in a hurry! SG of 1. After 17 days I kegged and sampled. No off flavors detected, slight caramel from the malt bill which should only continue to develop.
Is it possible to lager in your keggerator at more of a beer serving temp say around 40 degree or do you really want it lower? Cheers mate. Hi Marshall. Great write up! I am wondering about extra high gravity lagering like a Baltic Porter and specifically the aging process.
What are your thoughts? Can it be done in a keg? Marshall,seeing your comments regarding no longer using the method as described in this article and now fermenting reliable lager strains at ale temps-is it safe to assume that you get the same clean lager profile fermenting at ale temperatures? Others, such as my favorite L17 Harvest Augustiner , do seem to produce perceptible differences when fermented warm, slight as they may be, though not necessarily in a negative way.
So to put it simply: according to my personal palate, fermenting lager yeasts warm leads to the same clean lager profiles I get when fermenting cool.
At least when using the yeasts I often use. Thank you for the quick reply. Even works well over several generations at those temperatures. Would you ferment this warmer or stick to the original 11C for 5days before ramping up? And if I start at 11C, do I need to pitch 2 x 11g packets or can I build up the yeast count with a starter?
I have have two beers in the primary, Wy and Wy, for about two weeks. Is it too far along to begin raising the temperature to follow the remainder of the protocol outlined above? Hey Marshall, another informative article. Nice work. I like to put priming sugar in my keg, would you suggest I can still do this after lagering and would you let it sit at 20c or so or much lower at say 2c? Thanks for input and keep up the great work. Oh man! I just got a chest freezer with a regulator and I have a Festbier cold fermenting right now at 51F.
Thank you!!!! Hi Marshall, this might be of interest to you. We measure fermentation rate using a little air flow sensor made by Omron. It is an ESP project as many others we have. Would be happy to share the Arduino IDE sketch with you or others. We also plan on using the fermentation rate as a basis for adjusting the temperatures. Meaning keeping a constant fermentation rate.
I plan to move to 10 gallon batches this year as well as brew nothing but German Pils all season. Thanks for all that you guys do, Billy. Aye, great piece! Question: when doing a warmer lager fermentation, I can just stick to the higher temps the yeast are comfortable with a ramp up later towards the end?
So if a yeast says best at 55f to 60f.. I just wasnt sure if undesirable things happend or if it stresses the yeast out. Great write up. Will try tweaking my process and try. Also researching pressure fermentation where if reading correctly will be able to ferment lager yeast at higher temp and much faster.
I read an article on how commercial breweries lager their beer so quickly. The key to flavor maturation is yeast. Increasing the contact between yeast and the compounds they are modifying can reduce lagering times.
The result is continuous lagering. It reduces lagering time from weeks to about a quarter of a day! Warning: Do not try this at home. Suppose a beer was fermented in keg. Would using a QuickCarb to recirculate the beer trub and all allow the beer to rapid age within a day? Subsequent filtering on transfer to another keg or perhaps a cold crash and gelatin to clear before packaging. I have a question perhaps you could help with. Never seems to get near target 1.
I currently have a second beer which has stopped around 1. As the fridge is temporarily at a higher temp, it would be a good opportunity to add more yeast to both to finish off then lager both simultaneously. The lighter flavor of these beers allows the beer to mature sooner because you are not waiting for the alcohol bitterness to subside, or for the beer to mellow out.
You are basically just waiting for the beer to clear to your liking. So, once it is clear enough for you, feel free to bottle. For styles such as American Amber Ale or German Altbier , we recommend 1 week in the primary and weeks in the secondary. As a beer gets darker in color it becomes more important to let the beer sit longer in the fermenter. The reason is due to the darker grains. The more a grain gets roasted, the more chances there are for off-flavors. This little extra time will make a big difference on how the beer tastes in the end.
For an amber or red ale, we would recommend one week in primary, and weeks in secondary. Dark styles of beer will benefit the most from a long fermentation time. Dark ales tend to contain some very heavily roasted grains. The longer you leave a dark ale in the secondary, the more of this sediment will completely settle to the bottom of your fermenter and not adversely affect the flavor of your beer.
Again, you want one week in primary, and then weeks in secondary. Lagers ferment differently than ales, and sometimes require special equipment. The main difference is that lagers ferment a good deal colder than ales do.
The colder temperature greatly slows the fermentation process, so extra time is required both in the primary for the beer to fully ferment, and in the secondary for maximum clarity. The longer primary fermentation extends, the more effectively yeast will do this, especially in a lager being cold controlled.
By the secondary fermentation, more than 90 percent of the process is complete and extended time will most likely yield lovely lagers. There is less risk in waiting extra days or weeks during the fermentation than there is in bottling or kegging the brew too soon.
You will know fermentation is complete when your hydrometer shows a consistent reading or when activity has stopped in the airlock. If you move your beer to the bottle conditioning process before fermentation ends, there will be off-flavors and aromas. More worringly, fermentation may also start again inside the bottle or keg once the yeast has warmed. If fermentation starts inside a sealed container, it could become over-carbonated.
The easiest way to shorten your timeline is to carbonate your lager in a keg. Hydrometers are the most reliable way to know when your beer has finished fermenting. If you do not have a hydrometer, err on the side of caution before you bottle. Once the secondary fermentation is complete, your lager still needs to be bottle-conditioned for 2 to 3 weeks. This process creates carbonation inside the bottles. Prime and bottle your lager at room temperature.
The warmer temperatures will reactive the yeast that remain after fermentation. Add your priming sugar and seal the bottle. If you are using a keg, follow the instructions to force carbonation. If your brew froze during fermentation, you will likely need to add new yeast. Use the same strain that you used to create the wort. New yeast may also be required if the beer was lagered for more than a month. Carbonation takes an average of 2 to 3 weeks regardless of the strength of the beer.
The only way to know for sure if the conditioning is complete is to open a bottle and taste it. However, you can also:. Once the bottle conditioning is complete, store your beer in a fridge to preserve the flavors and keep it nice and crisp for drinking. There are short cuts to fermenting a lager, which include more rigorous temperature control or fermenting at room temperature.
The process will still take at least 2 weeks. Alternatively, use a filter or clarifying agent. It is technically possible to complete the lagering step inside the bottle or keg.
However, sediment will settle in the bottom and produce an off or hazy lager. It is best to lager your beer inside a carboy and move it to the bottles or keg when it is complete. Your email address will not be published. Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment. There are plenty of reasons to brew on a stove. You might have limited space for storing equipment.
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